One of the best cities for tech startups in France

As soon as seen as a spot for startups to flee from, France has established itself as a hothouse of startup expertise. The La French Tech initiative has seen funding and help for startups skyrocket, thanks largely to the creation of tech hubs in 13 cities and 4 areas across the nation.

All of those cities have their sturdy fits, and lots of have been particularly designed to help explicit industries. There’s nearly no dangerous metropolis in France to start out a brand new tech firm – however listed below are only a handful of our favorite cities to each work and reside.

Paris

The place else might we begin? Paris is likely one of the most fascinating locations on the earth, combining unbelievable historical past and tradition with unique procuring districts and lovely eateries. It’s a testomony to how unbelievable Paris is that it’s each probably the most visited metropolis on the earth, and among the finest locations to reside. Its sprawl of arrondissements provide one thing for everybody, and no location is with out its charms.

Being that fascinating usually means being costly, and Paris actually isn’t the most cost effective place to reside. However La French Tech and others have labored arduous to make sure that the advantages for startups outweigh the prices. The beating coronary heart of that is arguably Station F, the biggest startup campus on the earth. Opened in 2017, Station F gives inexpensive working areas and amenities for startups alongside among the world’s greatest names, together with Microsoft, L’Oreal, Google and Ubisoft.

Station F has been adopted by Partech Shaker, a nine-story startup campus with room for over 270 firms, and residential to the TechStars-Paris incubator. Funding from incubators and angel buyers is flooding into Paris because of this startup increase, with 24 funding rounds from main worldwide buyers within the first 8 months of final 12 months. France as a complete is now house to 11 tech ‘unicorns’ (billion greenback firms) – and nearly all of them are in Paris.

Lyon

France’s second largest and second richest metropolitan space is all issues to all folks. A historic capital, industrial centre and meals mecca, Lyon has more and more developed a fame for cutting-edge companies. In addition to being a longstanding centre of finance, Lyon has turn into famend for its tech startups, with specialities together with chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing, biotech analysis, and a burgeoning software program trade.

Bordering two of France’s finest wine-growing areas and residential to a number of Michelin star cooks, there’s little doubt that Lyon is a wonderful place to reside and work. However its suitability for startups is greater than a match for the life-style. Concerted work by Lyon’s Financial Growth Company had led to the event of startup areas and robust broadband infrastructure, attracting massive firms together with EA France and Bandai Namco, in addition to fostering Arkane Studios, accountable for the hit online game collection Dishonored. 

Lyon’s early funding in tech infrastructure made it France’s first good related metropolis, and the second to attain digital hub accreditation. A centre of invention and innovation for hundreds of years – it’s the birthplace of cinema pioneers the Lumière brothers – Lyon is now a major space for analysis and improvement. Lyon ranks second in France for patent functions, R&D spending, and collaborations between schooling and analysis centres, and hosts over 13,000 researchers and 5,400 PhD college students – making it a hotbed of tech expertise.

Montpellier

A lesser-known metropolis for many individuals, Montpellier is one in every of France’s greatest success tales. A centre of medieval studying and a jewel of the Mediterranean coast, Montpellier has skilled the best inhabitants progress of any metropolis in France because the millennium. That is in no small half because of its litany of instructional establishments, with its 70,000+ college students making up one quarter of your entire inhabitants.

Dwelling to 2 main universities, 9 scientific establishments and two enterprise colleges, Montpellier is undoubtedly a wonderful supply for expertise. Many graduate into the 8,400 digital firms presently within the metropolis, and collaborate by way of the town’s 5 main enterprise associations. Others bounce straight into their very own startups, making the most of the town’s nice infrastructure and relative affordability.

La French Tech has an enormous presence in Montpellier, with its colors adorning the previous Metropolis Corridor, now a serious tech startup incubator. Different incubators embody the Cap Omega Enterprise and Innovation Centre, which gives ‘personalised and modular workplace options’, and the Montpellier Worldwide Enterprise Incubator (MIBI) – a really perfect place to begin for any international residents seeking to begin up within the metropolis.

Good

Good by title, good by nature. Good (that’s pronounced ‘niece’) has been one in every of France’s most fascinating cities because the 18th century, when it grew to become a favorite retreat of the English aristocracy. The surroundings and pure lighting have made it a house and haven for artists down the centuries, with works by Matisse and Chagall littering Good’s many museums and galleries.

Located on the sunny French Riviera, Good is a part of the French Tech Côte d’Azur regional hub. Maybe surprisingly, Good is definitely one in every of France’s oldest startup hotspots, and hosts Europe’s first ever science park, based in 1969. Sophia Antipolis (because it’s known as) remains to be going sturdy, and now hosts 2,230 firms using over 36,000 folks. 

The lengthy historical past of science and analysis in Good has naturally advanced into a spread of IT and tech specialities, together with software-as-a-service (SaaS) and fintech. The European Middle of Enterprises and Innovation (CEEI) in Good offers workplace area, help and entry to accelerator funding, whereas incubators embody BA06 Accelerator and Creacannes, based mostly in close by Cannes. 

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What stands out about France is not only the standard of its startup locations, however its power in depth. The deal with regional improvement and the La French Tech hub scheme have ensured that entrepreneurs can discover sources, help and funding throughout the nation – making now nearly as good a time as any to begin your new enterprise in France.